


A Last Resort

by storiesbeyondthestars



Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bad Things Happen Bingo, M/M, but heads up someone loses a limb, but then diverges from canon, it's not graphic, prompt: amputation, takes place after Shiro comes back in S3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-26
Updated: 2018-08-26
Packaged: 2019-07-02 16:47:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15800601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/storiesbeyondthestars/pseuds/storiesbeyondthestars
Summary: They were trapped and the water was rising. They really had no choice in what they had to do.





	A Last Resort

**Author's Note:**

> On tumblr, an anonymous person requested **amputation for klance**.

From a very young age, Lance was a huge fan of the sounds made from water. Small drips might drive some people insane, but not him. He liked the crashing of waves, the tapping of rain, the trickle of a stream. It was comforting to him on so many levels.

That said, the steady tap-tap-tapping of the water dripping down from part of the cavern that he was trapped in was going to drive him insane.

To be fair, he had been in that cave for at least a day at that point. His head ached terribly, but at least the blood that had been flowing from the cut that went through his eyebrow stopped gushing. He knew that small head wounds like that looked worse than they were, but it had still been unsettling. Not to mention, he was sure that he had a broken rib or two.

On the bright side, at least his helmet was still in-tact, and the air on this planet was safe for humans to breathe. Also, their suits could keep them hydrated, which was a good thing.

Still, if they didn’t get out soon, Lance was going to go stir-crazy. He knew that everyone else was working carefully from above. The tunnels were an important resource to the inhabitants of the planet, and no one wanted to risk a second cave-in. That didn't matter. The only entertainment available was the crushed Galra that was sticking out of the pile of bolders, and Keith. Keith wasn't much better.

Lance grimaced at his own internal thoughts. That wasn’t entirely fair on his part, was it? He looked towards Keith, sprawled out on the floor awkwardly. He had one leg bent up, the other stretched out in front of him, and his chest rose and fell with ragged breaths. It was an alarming sound, but it was better than those moments he went silent and Lance’s heart leapt into his throat.

He looked over at his friend again. Keith was staring up at the ceiling, his brow furrowed in thought. His skin looked pale and clammy, sweat trickling down his temple. He looked worse than Lance felt.

Without warning, Keith shifted a bit, a very uncharacteristic whimper escaping him. He gritted his teeth, arching his back. There was a scraping sound as he pulled out his Marmora blade. He tried to sit up, a distressed sound echoing through the cavern.

“What are you doing?” Lance was at his side, eyes widening.

“Fuck,” Keith muttered as he slumped back a bit. He took a few deep breaths before clenching his stomach muscles and managing to sit up. Lance pressed his hands to Keith’s shoulders, helping to steady him. Keith shot him a small look of appreciation, but that was enough.

Well, no. He still wanted answers. “Again, what are you doing?”

“We need to look at it,” Keith said, trying to keep his voice steady, despite the slight pitch to it. “We’ve been putting it off waiting for them. It’s been over a day, Lance. I’m going to cut that part of my suit away.”

Lance bit his lips before nodding his head. He put his hand on Keith’s arm and said, “Let me.”

Keith nodded, handing him the knife. The current Black Paladin looked down at his leg, and Lance followed his gaze. He grimaced as he stared at the large boulders that had one of his legs pinned. Lance had been able to get the other one out but that one was more than just pinned. It had to be crushed at this point.

Keith’s blade was sharp enough to cut through the flexible, black armour they wore under the stronger, white and coloured pieces. Lance was careful, lifting the fabric to cut it away. Above the cut, the suit clung tighter to Keith’s skin to stop anything from getting inside. He cut it away, and nearly threw up at what he saw.

Like he thought, it was obvious that Keith’s leg was completely crushed. The skin was bruised and green-looking, little black lines coming up from it.

Keith took a deep breath and leaned back, closing his eyes.

“It’ll be okay,” Lance assured him, placing a hand on his shoulder. “They’ll get down to us soon.” He shifted a bit, a slight splash coming from behind him. He looked back and alarm rushed through him when he realized that the water was creeping up on them a lot faster.

“What the hell?” He switched the comms on and said, “Hey guys, how much longer is this going to take?”

“We’re working as fast as we can,” Hunk assured them. “Hang on a bit longer.”

They hadn’t told them about Keith’s leg, but Lance knew that they had to now. “The cavern we’re in is starting to fill up with water.”

“What?” Allura’s voice sounded alarmed. “You didn’t mention there was water in there! The tides on this planet are extreme, and they fill up half of these caverns too.”

“I’m looking at the sonar imagining of your suits,” Pidge noted. “It’s a bit wonky but it looks like there’s a spot higher up you can go to for now.”

“No can do,” Lance said, looking down at Keith.

There was a pause.

“And why not?” Pidge asked slowly.

Keith looked up at the ledge in question and then at him. “Go up there, Lance.”

He blinked and looked down at him with wide eyes. “I’m not leaving you down here.” If Keith thought he was going to watch from up there as the cave filled up with water and he drowned, he had another thing coming.

God, they couldn’t even seal their helmets shut, the protective plastic broken and cracked on both of them.

“It’s okay.” Keith tried to look confident, but he kind of looked like he was about to be sick instead. “It’ll be fine.”

Right. Keith might have been brave, but even he had to fear actually dying.

“What are you talking about?” Hunk asked. Right, they could hear them.

“Nothing,” Keith said.

Lance wasn’t having that anymore. “My scanner’s not working properly, so I can’t see the exact damage, but his leg his stuck.” He could see some of the damage though.

“What do you mean _stuck_?” Allura demanded, sounding rather alarmed.

Keith groaned and said, “It’s crushed under some boulders, Allura. I can’t move. So Lance needs to go up to the higher ground. I’m stuck here. There’s no point in both of us drowning.”

Pidge let out a string of curses. “Someone get Shiro down from the castle! The comms aren’t working from the castle!”

“I’m going!” Allura said to them.

“Oh, screw this ecosystem,” Hunk said, sounding more than a little angry.

“Hunk what?” Pidge paused for a moment. “Hang on guys, we’re going to see what we can do!”

Lance didn’t pay attention to them though, keeping his eyes focused on Keith as the water started to creep up around them. “I’m not leaving you here.”

“Go!”

“No!”

They glared at one another until Keith looked away, down at his leg. A stream of impressive curses escaped his lips. He grabbed his knife, cutting a little more at the fabric, taking a thick strip and setting it beside him. He paused for a moment, the knife growing inside a sword in his hand.

“What are you doing?” Lance asked, ignoring everything that was going on over the comms now.

Keith held the sword up, lining it with his leg, but his hand was shaking. He held the sword up higher, but then paused. “Oh god. I can’t do it. I—no—I can do this. I can do it.” He took a deep breath.

“No!” Lance grabbed his arm when he realized what Keith was about to do.

“The bacteria already infected it.” He pointed at the pus around the wound. “And that looks like blood poisoning. It’s going to get worse. Either—either I drown here, or I—“ He took a deep breath. “If we do this I might…we might be able to save my knee. It’ll make things easier.”

“What are you guys talking about?” Hunk asked, his voice rising. “Save his knee, what are you doing?”

Lance stared at Keith’s shaking hand and looked at his leg. The water was already starting to creep up around it with who-knows-what kind of bacteria or parasites in it. He squeezed his hand before letting go and wrapping his fingers around the hilt of the sword.

“Stop. I need to…you can look away.” Keith was trying to keep a brave face, but Lance could see the fear in his eyes.

Lance shook his head. “Let me.”

Keith’s eyes widened. “I can’t…”

“We don’t have time. Let me doing it. The suit will seal around it to stop you from bleeding.” He met his gaze. “Trust me.”

Staring for a second, Keith nodded. He grabbed the strip of material he cut up earlier, folding it and biting down on it so that he wouldn’t bite through his tongue or lip.

Lance knew that Keith’s blade was sharp, that it could cut through most metals. He raised it into the air, wanting to get through everything with one swing. That way he wouldn’t have to hack at it or anything like that. He really didn't want to do that, but would if he had to.

Lance focused on the area he wanted to cut through, and brought the sword down with as much force as he could.

Even through the material, Keith’s scream seemed to echo through the cavern, his body arcing. Lance had no time to focus on that though. He dropped the blade into the water and clenching the suit around the wound. It sealed tightly to prevent bleeding.

He picked up the blade again, which had shrunk back down to its knife form, and put it back in Keith’s sheath. Despite this, Lance knew he wouldn't want to lose it. Ignoring the pain he felt in his body, and running on pure adrenaline, Lance scooped him up. He jumped and used the rocks and his jetback to get them up to the higher ledge.

Keith was breathing rapidly, shaking hands grasping onto Lance’s armour as his skin went pure white. “Lance. Lance, I think I’m going to—“ He squeezed his eyes shut.

“You’re going into shock.” He sat down, cradling Keith shaking form in his lap. “I got you. It’ll be okay.”

“I’m not worried,” Keith muttered with a slight now. “I know you’re here.” He slumped down, passing out from the pain and shock of losing a limb.

Lance rocked him back and forth, humming something under his breath. It was more a comforting thing to himself than for Keith. It was hard to believe, but he knew that he had done the right thing. If he wouldn’t have done that, Keith would have drowned already.

The water is almost up to them before the caverns burst, revealing a giant, yellow paw.

…

Lance bit his lip nervously, reaching up to knock on the door.

Hearing Keith tell him to come in was a relief. It meant that he was finally awake.

Walking into the room, Lance almost had to do a double take when he realized that Keith was sitting on his bed. He had the blankets pulled up to his waist, his tablet resting on top of them. He looked so much better than he had when he went in the healing pod.

Still, he couldn’t shrug off the guilt. Keith was sitting, because until Allura and the Olkari finished with the prosthetic they were making, he couldn’t walk. Not without crutches, and they didn’t exactly have those there.

Lance did that. Lance was the one who cut off his leg.

Keith was staring at him with an odd expression. He looked away, down at his blankets, fists clenching the fabric. “I’m sorry.”

Completely taken back, Lance said, “You’re sorry? I’m the one that—"

“Exactly.” Keith looked back up at him. “It was my idea. You didn’t have to…I shouldn’t have asked you to do that.”

Lance took a few steps towards him until he was right beside the bed. “You didn’t ask me.”

They were both silent until Keith said, “You saved me.” His voice was so soft, that Lance almost didn’t catch it.

“Huh?”

Looking up from his hands, Keith shook his head. “I would have drowned. The infection and the blood poisoning would have…Lance. You saved my life. Thank you.” He smiled at him softly. It was a look that Lance had seen on his face a few times before, a look that he recognized but wasn’t at all ready for, so he ignored it. Now though, now was different. “But I knew you would.”

“You knew…” Lance breathed out. He really had that much faith in him?

Keith nodded. “I knew.”

Lance’s breath hitched, and he swept forward, tugging Keith into a hug. The other boy was a bit startled, but his arms slowly curled around Lance’s body as he hugged him back.

It was going to be a long and difficult road to recovery, but Lance swore then and there that he would be by Keith’s side through every last step.

**Author's Note:**

> Click here to see my rules for [Bad Things Happen Bingo](https://storiesbeyondthestars.tumblr.com/post/177253571758/here-is-your-card-for-bad-things-happen-bingo).
> 
> Click here to see my rules for [Fluff Bingo](https://storiesbeyondthestars.tumblr.com/post/177246760368/since-itll-probably-be-a-while-before-i-get).


End file.
